


Deep Cover

by delphinus



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Read at Your Own Risk, Work In Progress, blatant hints but still hints, call this my spin on the cliche original character story, ongoing, the stuff in the warnings is only hinted at
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 01:57:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4203576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delphinus/pseuds/delphinus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You are not who you say you are."</p><p>Espionage agent and sometime assassin, Alicia is just the latest of her many names and faces. But who is she under the masks, if anything? And what does she really want? The Bats know they shouldn't trust her, but somehow they find themselves doing it anyway. Especially the youngest of them, Damian Wayne. Is that a foolish decision, or is she really on their side? Only time will tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story came into being when I dared myself to see how much horrible stuff I could write without actually writing any of it. Then it decided that it wanted an actual plot. Stuff happened and now it's fairly long and getting longer. Hopefully it'll eventually have an ending. Hopefully.

Batman, Robin, and Nightwing crouched on the rooftop across from the warehouse they were about to storm. They had spent much of the past three weeks preparing for this bust; one of the biggest any of them had ever participated in. Now they were about to execute it, waiting there in the in the chilly autumn night for the last of the crooks to enter the building.

Batman held up three gloved fingers. One by one he put them down again in a slow countdown. Three...Two...One...Zero. When he swept his hand downward, they leaped.

Batman and Robin took the main entrance. Nightwing went in through a hole in the roof. He landed right on the table the ringleaders were sitting around. Their coordinated attack took the men and women sitting at the table by surprise, but their advantage didn't last for long.  
The leaders of the weapons smuggling ring were up and fighting in seconds, as were their lackeys. Thugs put up their fists or drew guns as tramps pulled weapons from unexpected places.

The most unusual member of the group - a blank-faced, thirteen year old girl wearing red, linen gloves who had come in with one of the men who funded the operation - caught Nightwing's eye as she pulled a pair of wicked looking knives from sheaths in her too-tight pants. He fought his way over to where she was holding off Robin with quick, expert slashes. "Go, Robin. Help Batman. I'll handle this."

Robin nodded curtly at him and ran to his father's side.

Nightwing watched him go, but paid for it with a slash aimed at his side that he only barely avoided. It ripped his suit and nicked his skin, drawing a few glistening beads of blood. He was immediately on the defensive.

This close, Nightwing could hear her breathing and smell the sweat that dampened her bangs. "Robin put up quite a fight. But I can tell that you'd much rather try to talk to me." She stabbed at him and he danced away. "Think you can do both at the same time?"

Nightwing kept dodging, refusing to fight back. "I don't want to hurt you. You're a kid who got mixed up with the wrong people. He's using you, I know he is." The bruises covering her body were evidence of that. "Let me help."

"You don't want me fighting because in your eyes I'm a kid, yet you condone Robin's participation in this fight."

"Robin is different. He has years of training and Batman and I to keep him safe."

"I have training too, and I don't need anyone watching my back." Her voice took on a chilling tone that sent shivers down Nightwing's spine. "I work alone."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Mr. Prince's personal bodyguard, hit man, and call girl." Her voice was suddenly as blank as her face. "I don't officially have a name, but call me Alicia."

He pleaded with her. "Alicia, please, I can help you."

She slid around his guard somehow and got him in a choke hold."Listen to me," she whispered urgently in his ear. "I don't want to actually kill you, so we're going to have to make this look good."

He tapped her leg once to signal that she had his attention.

"I'm going to assume that meant that you understand. In a moment, I want you to try to flip our positions. I'll slip out of your grip and perform a nerve strike that should knock you unconscious for a little while. When you wake up, you have to play dead until I come to get you, got it?"

He tapped her leg again, then wrenched out of her choke hold. She slipped away from him and stabbed two fingers into the hollow at base of his skull. Much harder and it would have been a lethal hit. As it was, he lost consciousness instantly.

Robin saw Nightwing fall. Saw the girl check his pulse and nod in satisfaction. He roared and lunged away from Batman's side, but found himself restrained by his father's strong grip.

"Not now," Batman growled.

Robin snarled at him and tried to yank away, but he was forced to abandon his fight to get to Nightwing's side when the last wave of crooks surged forward to attack them.

Alicia picked off the stragglers, knocking them out. She stayed in the shadows to ensure that none of them got so much as a glimpse of her face. The last person she took down was the man she had come in with.  
"Mr. Prince, this way, hurry," she called from a side door. He scurried over and she ambushed him just outside. "This is for everything you've done to me these past five years," she hissed viciously. Then she drove her extra knife into his chest. He gasped and she let him fall to the ground. She left the knife there, buried deep in his heart.

When she reentered the building all of the criminals were down, so she made her way over to Nightwing's side.

Robin intercepted her before she could get there. "You! How dare you kill him?! I'll destroy you!"

Strong arms wrapped around the furious boy. "Aww. You do care."

Robin froze. "Nightwing?"

"I'm right here, Robin. You didn't think I'd go down that easy, did you?"

Batman strode over to them and put a hand on Alicia's shoulder. "That's the last of them."

She looked up at him. "This is over?"

He nodded. "Every last one of them have been taken down. Some are dead," he glared at her, "and the rest will be securely locked away by the end of the night."

She heaved a sigh of relief. "Then take me in too." She frowned when Batman shook his head. "I mean it. I have nearly as much blood on my hands as Red Hood does, and unlike Hood there's no reason for you to go easy on me. Arrest me as well. Or do I need to show you Mr. Prince's dead body first?"

"Even if I did arrest you, would the police be able to pin anything on you?"

She hesitated, then shook her head. "No. The chances of them successfully convicting me of anything are one in a billion. I was careful to leave no evidence. That doesn't mean I shouldn't be arrested anyway."

"Would someone care to explain to me exactly what is going on here?" That was Nightwing, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

Robin crossed his arms. "Indeed, Father. What is going on?"

Batman exchanged a wordless look with Alicia.

"I'll explain." She locked her gaze on Nightwing. "I did knock you out, after all. It's only fair. As I've already told you, my name is Alicia. My mother was Mr. Prince's personal tramp. When I was seven, he killed her. I ran away, lived on the streets for a year, then I decided that the best way to get revenge on him would be to stab him in the back, and I knew that to stab him in the back I'd have to earn his trust. I went into deep cover: Stopped running and went to him begging to fill my mother's role in his life. Later, I showed him the fighting skills I had picked up during my year on the streets when one of his bodyguards tried to kill him. He said he saw my potential. He brought in people from all over to train me. I didn't just become his call girl, I became his bodyguard and his assassin.

"A year after I infiltrated his organization and cemented my place at his side, Batman caught me and stopped an assassination I was supposed to be carrying out. I told him what I was doing and he tried to pull me out. I ran away and disappeared before he could catch me. Took a beating for my failure.

"We met a few more times, and when it became clear that I wasn't about to let him stop me, he offered to help. We made a deal. I would feed him every bit of information I got about Mr. Prince, his organization, and everything he was involved in, and he would help out by using that information to take down Mr. Prince and all his associates. This has been going on for four years now. And I'm glad it's over." Her expression slid into one of absolute relief. "Now that the entire organization has been dismantled, I can finally drop my cover. I will never have to see that sickening man again, and at long last my mother's death has been avenged." She held out her hands to let them cuff her like they had all of the other criminals.

Nightwing looked horrified. "B, how could you let her live like that?!"

Batman released his by now painfully tight grip on Alicia's shoulder. "I had no idea that her situation was that bad." He glared down at her. "I was informed that she was his hit girl. Nothing more."

"You never would have let me finish my mission if you knew the lengths to which I went to ensure its success." Her voice remained as calm and even as it was possible to make it, but she didn't look at him. "Forget about it. It's over and done with."

Nightwing growled when she held he hands up insistently. "Nuh uh. Not even. There is no way I'm arresting you after hearing that."

Robin was looking at her with a mixture of respect and disgust, but he showed no signs of cuffing her.

Batman agreed with Nightwing. "We're not arresting you."

"Then what, exactly, are you going to do with me?" she snapped. "There aren't a lot of options here."

A look passed between Batman and Nightwing. Robin snorted at it and narrowed his eyes, but nodded when they directed that look at him. His response seemed to surprise Nightwing, but Batman just nodded back.  
Batman looked at Alicia. "Can you play another role for Gordon?"

"The Police Commissioner? Depends on the part."

"Scarred victim," Nightwing informed her.

"I think I can do that."


	2. Chapter 2

Batman, Robin, and Nightwing landed on the roof of the Gotham City Police Department with just enough of a thud to alert Commissioner Gordon that they had arrived. He knew they made noise only because they wanted to alert him to their presence so they didn't accidentally get shot, but he wasn't complaining. He turned around to greet them and froze.

With them was a beat-up girl who looked to be only about twelve or thirteen years old. She was shivering in her too-tight pants and near see-through blouse, but she gave Nightwing her best attempt at a smile when he set her down on the roof. Nightwing looked like his heart was breaking at the sight of that smile. Gordon wholeheartedly agreed with him.

Purple and green bruises stretched across her arms and her face and a few more were visible through the thin fabric of the blouse. Some were obviously handprint-shaped. Others, especially the ones on her arms, looked like fingerprints. There were some less visible ones on her ankles in the space between the bottoms of her skin-tight pants and the tops of her tennis shoes.

"Who on earth is that?" Gordon asked, shocked.

Batman nodded to him. "Jim. We took down the weapons smuggling ring. You should send some men to collect them. They're in warehouse fourteen at the docks."

Gordon barked orders into his radio for a few minutes before returning to staring at the girl in confusion as sirens wailed and cars roared away down below them. "Done. Now who is she?" He gestured at her.

Robin was the one who spoke up. "She says her name is Alicia Swanton. She went to the meeting with one of the ringleaders. His name was Jeremiah Prince. We were unable to get the full story, but we heard enough to know that he had been abusing her since she was eight."

"Was?" Gordon asked. "Had?"

"One of his men turned on him during the fight and stabbed him in the back. Literally. We were, unfortunately, unable to save him." Nightwing didn't look the least bit sorry about this. "The man who did it got away."  
"Anything else you can tell me?"

Batman shook his head. "You should get Montoya to talk to her. Maybe she can learn more than we could."

They started to leave, but Alicia clung to Nightwing's arm. "No!" She flinched away and clamped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have yelled. It won't happen again, I promise. Just- Please don't go."

"Hey, it's okay." Nightwing's tone was gentle and friendly. "These people are police officers. They help. They won't hurt you."

She shook her head and clung tighter. "Don't go."

Nightwing looked to Batman, who nodded. "Okay. I'll stay. Promise."  
She relaxed just a tiny bit. "Thank you."

Batman and Robin left. Gordon waved to Nightwing and Alicia to follow him to his office. Nightwing got her settled in a chair while Gordon went to find Detective Renee Montoya. He hoped she hadn't left with the officers who had gone to apprehend the criminals Batman and his partners had taken down. There were other women on the force, but Montoya was best at dealing with Gotham's resident vigilantes.  
Fortunately, he found her in her office. "Montoya."

She looked up. "What?"

"You remember that smuggling ring the Bats were working on taking down?"

"Yeah. I heard they finally got them. A bunch of the guys headed out to bring 'em in."

"One of the ringleaders had a girl, about thirteen. Her name is Alicia Swanton. Batman asked me to see if you could get any more of her story out of her than they could. She's in my office with Nightwing because she wouldn't let him leave."

Montoya nodded. They stopped in the doorway to Gordon's office so that she could get a look at the girl she was going to be questioning.  
Alicia was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with her back to the wall. She looked tense and nervous. Renee held back a gasp at the sight of her bruises. Nightwing was carrying on a very one-sided conversation with her, apparently trying to make her laugh. It wasn't working.

Gordon coughed. Alicia jumped.

Nightwing nodded at Montoya. "Detective."

Montoya nodded back. "Nightwing." She set a chair from an office across the hall in front of the one the girl was sitting in, making sure to stay a safe distance away. "You must be Alicia. My name is Renee Montoya. I'm a detective. The Commissioner says you have a story to tell."

Alicia nodded nervously, but didn't say anything.

"Care to tell me?" Montoya prompted.

She nodded again and took a deep breath. Montoya listened as the girl let it all spill out. The story made her sick to her stomach. This girl's mother had been Jeremiah Prince's personal tramp, and when he killed her he forced Alicia, who was eight at the time, to take her place.

The girl was in tears by the end of her tale. Renee hesitated, then reached out to hug her. She tensed, then relaxed and kept sobbing.  
They sat there like that for a while. During that time, Nightwing told Commissioner Gordon what Batman was up to.

"He's talking to Bruce Wayne. That's our protocol for situations like this. Occasionally, we run across a kid like Alicia who just can't go to Social Services. The reasons vary, but no matter the reason there are a few people we send them to who we know will give them safe, loving homes. 

"Bruce is the one who usually handles cases like hers. Kids with severe emotional trauma who need specialized care, or have what could be classified as special needs. If he'll take her, she'll be happy and safe there. If not, we have other places to send her. Either way, Batman and Robin and I have made her safety a priority. If Bruce says yes, Batman will contact me before Bruce comes to pick us up."

"If he doesn't?"

"Batman will tell me, and I'll take her to a friend of Bruce's in Central City. He and his wife fought for and won custody of his nephew when they found out that he was being abused. He agreed to take in kids like Alicia if and when we need him to. Bruce would be a better fit, but she would likely be pretty happy with Barry. I've met his nephew, Wally, and they'd probably get along fairly well once she got over her touch phobia."

Gordon nodded. They waited silence for a couple more minutes before Nightwing put a finger up to his ear. "It's Batman. Bruce said yes. He's on his way. Should be here any minute."

Nightwing walked over to the two ladies and gently touched Alicia's shoulder. She jumped, then looked up and gave him another one of her heartbreaking, broken smiles.

He grinned at her. "Hey. How do you feel about getting a new home?"

Her eyes widened and she started chewing nervously on her bottom lip. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really. Batman asked Bruce Wayne to take you in and Bruce said yes. Come on, I think that's his car outside."

Montoya looked out the window. A silver, Lincoln town-car was sitting outside the main entrance below.

Alicia clung closely to Nightwing's side the entire way downstairs. She looked so scared that Gordon wanted to give her a teddy bear to hug, or maybe a night-light.

Bruce met them in the lobby, wide awake with an easy smile on his face despite the late hour. He crouched down when Alicia cautiously approached, both to look her in the eyes and to appear less threatening. "Hello. You must be Miss Swanton."

She shook her head. "Just Alicia, Mr. Wayne," she whispered.

"If you're just Alicia, then I'm just Bruce, okay?"

"Okay, Bruce."

"Ready to go? I want to show you your new home."

"Can- can Nightwing-?"

"I'll be right there with you," Nightwing told her.

She nodded and let Bruce lead the way out to his car.

Nightwing waved cheerfully to Gordon as he followed them. "See ya, Commish."


	3. Chapter 3

Alicia stared at Bruce for a while as the car pulled away from the police station, all trace of the shy, uneasy girl she had been pretending to be gone. Then she turned to Nightwing. "He knows Batman?"

Nightwing laughed and took off his mask. "He is Batman."

Bruce glared.

Nightwing just shrugged. "What? She would have figured it out eventually."

Alicia sighed and laid her head against the window. "Well. This is interesting. Why are you doing this again?"

The elderly man in the drivers seat spoke up. "I believe it is because Master Bruce feels responsible for your current state."

She glanced down at one bruise-mottled arm. "This? This isn't a big deal. It was worse a week ago."

Nightwing made a sad noise. "It shouldn't have ever been even close to this bad."

She snorted and propped her head up on her hand, gazing out the window. "Welcome to the real world, pumpkin. Hope you can handle it."

There was a short stretch of awkward silence before Alicia spoke up again.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the whole not going to jail thing, even though I know I should go, but I don't particularly want anything to do with any of you guys. I only worked with Batman because it was that or risk compromising my mission. Nothing personal, but I don't think this new start thing is going to work out. I've been playing rogue for far too long to be able to just slip into the role of good little, victimized girl."

Bruce looked at her for a moment. His lips twitched, though whether he wanted to smile or frown was unclear. "You'll manage. It's what you do."

She nodded. "Point. Alright, I'll make you a deal: I play my part in public to the best of my ability and try to get along with you guys and in exchange you let me continue training. I'm not asking to work with you," she clarified quickly, "just train."

The driver spoke up again, silencing Bruce's protests that she was in no position to be bargaining. "I believe that can be arranged, Miss Swanton."

Alicia smiled at him. Then she looked over at Nightwing. "You're being awfully quiet all of a sudden. Something on your mind?"

"I'm just thinking about how badly Oracle is going to chew us out for the state you're in."

Batman flinched.

Most of the rest of the ride passed in silence, interspersed with Nightwing's failed attempts at starting a conversation and the driver's occasional comments. Alicia learned that the elderly man's name was Alfred and that he was Bruce's butler/medic. She learned that Red Robin's name was Tim and that Robin's was Damian. Nightwing explained patiently to her that the two hated each other with a burning passion, and that their feud had something to do with Robin being Bruce's biological son. Who was raised by assassins. Go figure.

Alicia looked up at the front of the massive Wayne Manor, bored. "This is it, then?"

Nightwing nodded. "Yep." He put his mask back on and stepped out of the car. "I'm headed to the Batcave to change out of my suit," he told Bruce. "I'll call O and tell her what's happening."

Bruce nodded, then led Alicia inside. His hand rested on her shoulder, a mixture of guiding and warning. Two boys were waiting for them in the main living room.

"Damian, Tim, this is Alicia. She will be staying with us."

"A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure," she said dryly.

Tim groaned. "Great. A girl Damian. Just what we need."

Damian snorted. "On the contrary, she is very much like you, Drake."

Bruce cut them off before the argument could pick up steam. "Boys."

Tim sighed. "Hi, I'm Timothy Drake-Wayne, but you can call me Tim. The little brat over there is Damian. Watch out for him. He might try to kill you in your sleep."

"I am Damian al Ghul-Wayne. You may address me as Damian. The obnoxious child is Drake. Pay him no mind. If you ignore him for long enough, he will go away."

"Alicia Swanton. Just Alicia, or Ali if you like nicknames. I will happily stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. I make no guarantees of anything more than civility."

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and inwardly groaned. Why had he thought this would be a good idea? These three were either going to tear each other apart or gang up on him.

Arms wrapped around Alicia from behind. She twisted around, grabbed one of them to use as leverage, and very nearly flipped Nightwing.

He grinned at her. "Did I miss the introductions?"

"Yes," Tim told him.

"I'm Richard Grayson, but call me Dick."

"Grayson is tolerable," Damian informed her haughtily, "if somewhat aggravating at times."

"Dick is practically psychic," Tim warned. "If you so much as think about frowning he will appear out of nowhere and hug you. He's hard to dodge at first, but you get the hang of it eventually."

Dick pouted. Bruce sighed. Correction: they'd go after Dick first, then him.

"I'll keep that in mind," she told Tim. "If all he's going to do is hug me, though, he'd be better off staying out of my space."

Alfred gently removed Bruce's tightly clasping hand from her shoulder and replaced it with his own, gentler grip. "Come along, Mistress Alicia. You must help me decide what color your room should be painted."

There was a collective sigh of relief once they were out of earshot.

Alicia looked around at the mostly empty room, then back at Alfred. "You didn't bring me up here just to talk about paint colors."

"Indeed I did not, though your input would be appreciated."

"Pastel blue. It's a very soothing color. Now may we get to the point of this discussion?"

"Very well. I am not entirely sure of what the past five years have been like for you, but I am sure that life here will be very different. Here, you have your own room that you may decorate however you like. No one will ask anything of you the way that man did, and no one here will raise a hand to harm you. But there are rules. There will be no more killing and I won't have you sleeping with any of the boys. Certainly not until you are of age."

"Wasn't planning on it. And to set the record straight, I never wanted to kill in the first place. I prefer taking a beating to taking a life. Though that's not to say that I won't do what's needed." Alicia hesitated. "But sleeping on my own might be a problem. I literally cannot sleep alone. Not unless I'm beyond exhausted."

"I'm sure we can think of some way to remedy that."

"I'm immune to all of the sleep-inducing drugs available in Gotham," she warned. "Legal and illegal. Mr. Prince made sure of that." Alfred frowned. "I'll sleep a few hours every night or so if I get worn out. That's one of my reasons for wanting to train. Since sleeping with someone is out of the question."

"Perhaps if you had something that gave a semblance of having another person with you."

"That... Is a good idea. Worth a shot."

"I will see what can be done. Would you like me to show you to the gym?"

She smiled up at him. Not a fake smile like the one she wore for the Commissioner. This was genuine and so much sharper, like she had forgotten how to smile softly. Like her smile was as much of a weapon as the rest of her. "That would be great. Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

Dick found her there at six in the morning, still beating up on a punching bag.

"998...999...1000." Alicia stepped back and wiped the sweat from her brow, grinning at him. "What's up?"

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"Since about three-thirty. Why?"

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Her expression soured. "Can't sleep alone. Not since I was, like, six. Alfred is working on a solution that doesn't involve any of you, because that would be awkward. Until he finds one, I train. If I wear myself out enough I might be able to get a few hours of rest."

How bad had Alicia had it? How could they have overlooked the severity of her situation? Not for the first or the last time Dick cursed Bruce for not pulling her out when he had the chance. "Have you had breakfast?"

"I get the feeling that in this household it's as good as impossible not to eat three meals a day."

He narrowed his eyes.

Alicia laughed and took a sip from a pastel pink water bottle. "Yes, Richie, I've had breakfast. Alfred looked over my shoulder the whole time to make sure I ate all of my strawberry pancakes like a good little girl. I even rested for an hour afterwards."

"It's Dick," he growled.

She raised her eyebrow at his response to the nickname. "Hmm. Sore spot. Nice to know. Anyway, my time with Mr. Prince had its problems, but a lack of food wasn't one of them. Even on the streets before I went to him I never starved. Someone was always willing to give me something to eat. For a price. You don't have to worry about my eating habits."

Dick snapped. "How can you be so- so flippant about what people have done to you?!"

She leveled an unimpressed look at him. "How do you want me to act? Because I've got news for you: I refuse to be the hurt little kid I played for Gordon. I'm not that weak. I'm not helpless. I'm not- For goodness sake, I'm an adult! A spy, an assassin, a tramp. Take your pick. But no matter what role I play I will not be a child! I did what I had to in order to survive and complete my mission. I think I have a right to be proud of that. I'm sure as heck not going to be ashamed. If you have a problem with the way I act, get out."

Dick stared at her, stunned by the pure anger in her tone. "I just want you to act your age. To be able to be a kid like you should be."

"I don't want to be a kid. I have no desire to 'act my age.' I'm an adult and you will treat me like it or you will stay away from me."

He stumbled backwards, thrown off by her vicious animosity. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

Her eyes softened and she lowered her voice, removing some of the heat from the tone. "Nothing any of you could have done would have gotten me out of there. Even if you had somehow gone back in time and stopped my mother's murder, I still would have taken her place eventually. Let the past lie. It's over now. What's the expression? No use crying over spilled milk?"

"Yeah, that's the saying. It's just... I can't help but think that Bruce or I or somebody could have done something. Could have helped."

"No, you really couldn't have." Alicia gave him a shrug. "I would never have let you. To be honest, I probably would have killed you if you had gotten in my way." She grabbed his hand and squeezed comfortingly. "Enough talk. Care to spar?"

Dick trounced her soundly now that she didn't have her knives and he was actually trying. She landed several good hits, however. And when he used a move she didn't know - which happened several times - she requested (demanded) that he show her how to do what he had done. They went from sparring to lessons. By the time Alfred brought them lunch Dick was getting a little tired. Alicia, on the other hand, ate her lunch and moved on to playing around on the balance beam.

"Hate to break it to you," Dick said, "but you're not very good at that."

"I know." She did a cautious flip and just managed to catch herself before she fell. "That's why I'm working on it. Trying, anyway. My teachers never put much emphasis on this sort of thing. I'm flexible, but not acrobatic. And I stink at teaching myself."

He sighed. "Get down off of there and let me teach you how to do a flip the right way."

"What are you guys doing?" Tim asked from the doorway. "You've been in here all day. Bruce is getting worried."

Alicia laughed. "Aww, is the daddy bat afraid I'll talk his little bird into letting me eat him or something? Tell him he can relax. We've been training. Nothing else. I already got the 'not until you're legal' talk from Alfred."

Dick looked utterly disgusted. Tim rolled his eyes and whipped out his phone to text Bruce. "There, now he knows what you've been doing. Mind if I join in? It'd be nice to spar against someone who doesn't know all of my moves. Dick can spot us."

Alicia gave him a razor grin. "This should be fun."

Tim attacked without warning, forcing Alicia back. She struck his arm when he tried to punch her, causing him to lose feeling in his hand. The fight was, for the most part, fairly evenly matched. Tim was more experienced and a slightly better fighter, but Alicia had a style he had never seen before, and as a result, he had no idea how to counter her. Damian interrupted before a clear victor could be decided.  
He flung the double doors open, attempting to make a dramatic entrance. It worked pretty well, actually. "Father wishes to know what you are doing in here," he announced.

Alicia scowled. "Sparring. And you interrupted. Tell your dad that if he wants to know what I'm up to, he should just check the feed from the cameras that I know he has in here."

Damian clicked his tongue decisively. "Tt. If Father is so desperate to find out what you are doing, then I shall not tell him. He will have to come and see for himself."

And Bruce did come. Five minutes later, he strode into the gym, lecture on the tip of his tongue that died when he saw what was going on. Alicia and Damian were sparring. Dick and Tim were cheering their respective favorites on, laughing and just generally having a good time. They were all getting along better than Bruce had ever seen them, and for some inexplicable reason, he felt guilty for interrupting.

Alicia took advantage of Damian's split second of distraction when Bruce entered. She didn't succeed in taking him down however, and the spar ended in a stalemate moments later.

She grinned at him. "Good match."

"Tt." He smiled back a little.

"Anybody mind if I join?" Bruce asked.

Dick and Tim exchanged looks. "You can join if you can beat Alicia," Tim said finally.

Alicia raised an eyebrow at them, then shrugged when they raised theirs right back. "Why not? Let's see how good you are."

She let him make the first move, then countered, slipping under his punch to strike at his stomach. He blocked her and withdrew, wary. She was good. He had known that intellectually, but had never seen it in action before, excluding the fight that had brought her to Wayne Manor and when they had first met. She didn't hold back, and after the first few times she landed a hit, neither did he. In the end, she used the same trick she had used to get Nightwing. This time, however, she didn't release him. Bruce was forced to surrender. Had it been a real fight, she could have killed him.

Alicia let go. Tim high-fived her. Dick hugged her with a grin, making her grumble about pointless invasions of space. She exchanged triumphant smirks with Damian.

"Sorry, B," Dick said. "You won't be joining us today."

"An impressive show, Mistress Alicia."

"Thanks, Alfred."

"Dinner is ready when you are ready for it, Master Bruce."

They filed into the dinning room in Alfred's wake. The butler made them wash up before he would serve them. Not five minutes into the meal, however, Tim bumped his glass of milk and it spilled all over Damian.

"Watch it, Drake," Damian snapped.

"It was an accident," Tim told him, annoyed.

"You are very clumsy," Damian sneered.

"Can you not?" Alicia broke in, annoyed. "I'm trying to eat here. You should be too." They glared at her. She stared back, unimpressed. "Whatever you want to do to me for interrupting your childish little argument is completely and utterly pathetic compared to the rest of my life. Give up now."

"Is that a challenge?" Damian asked.

She inspected her nails, feigning boredom. "Maybe. What if it is?"

Tim and Damian exchanged looks. Tim smirked at her. "Oh you're on."

She threw back her head and let out a chilling laugh. "Bring it."

"Do try to leave the house standing," Alfred told them.

"We make no promises," they replied.


	5. Chapter 5

Alicia made the first move. It was a simple thing to slip into their rooms and swap their clothes while they were out on patrol. They were roughly the same size, which was a bit pathetic given that Tim was almost twenty one and Damian wasn't even sixteen. She correctly assumed that neither of them would be coherent enough in the morning to notice until someone pointed it out to them.

That someone ended up being Bruce.

He cleared his throat. "Boys. Have either of you looked in a mirror yet this morning?"

"No," Tim said. "Why?"

Bruce gestured at their clothes.

"Alicia," Damian growled when he saw that Drake was wearing his favorite his t-shirt.

Tim tugged at the offending garment in disgust. "How does this even fit me?"

"Face it, Drake. You have always been pathetically small."

"Instead of arguing, how about we start working on a way to get back at her?"

Alicia came down to breakfast the next morning with a blue mouth. "Food coloring in my toothpaste," she commented offhandedly. "Nice."

When Tim put some powdered coffee creamer in his coffee late that night, it exploded. Well, actually, it just bubbled up with a ton of crazy foam, but still. He cornered Alicia later. "The coffee is sacred. You do not mess with the coffee."

She looked up from her book. "Technically, I didn't mess with the coffee. I messed with the creamer. Which I only did because you were starting to look like you had two black eyes. And Alfred made me clean up the mess after he sent you to bed."

He thought about it. "Fair enough."

Damian replaced her deodorant with cream cheese. She retaliated by putting Anbesol in his toothpaste the way he'd put food coloring in hers. He stormed downstairs the next morning, hopping mad.

"Ah dith oo goo?!" he yelled at her.

She snickered. "I'm sorry, what was that? You have to annunciate, I can't understand you."

He glared.

"Relax, it should wear off in a couple of hours. I wouldn't eat until it does, though. You might bite your cheek and that hurts like you wouldn't believe once the numbness goes away."

Damian and Tim teamed up to put lifesavers in her shower head. When she dried off after her shower, her whole body was sticky. She removed the candy but didn't take another shower that day. As a result, she looked like a walking dust bunny.

The air vents in Tim's car sprayed gold glitter when he turned it on the next morning. Damian's closet was filled with pink balloons. Alicia's room got covered in saran wrap.

They called a ceasefire when Damian went to work on an English assignment on his computer and found his mouse inside a block of Jello. Cherry, to be precise. Dick and Bruce heaved a sigh of relief, as did Alfred.

At the end of the four-day prank war, Alfred had come up with a solution for Alicia's sleeping problem. A heated pillow made out of t-shirt material. She tried it and came down to breakfast the next morning with a bright, genuinely happy smile on her face.

"Thank you, Alfie." She kissed him on the cheek.

"Am I to assume that you slept well, Young Mistress?"

"Yes. For the first time in years, yes I did."

Bruce was never really sure how Alicia found the Bat Cave. He just knew that one night she showed up when they were getting ready for patrol. She didn't say or do anything, really. She just sat in a corner and watched them with interest. It became a regular part of their nighttime routine, her silent presence. Until the night that she spoke up.

The Bats were debating who would go on an undercover mission in a cat house that would require the operative to play the part of a tramp. Bruce was too recognizable, Damian was too inexperienced and, frankly, too innocent. Dick, the obvious choice, didn't really want to do it. Tim volunteered, but they all shot that idea down immediately. Neither Dick nor Bruce were willing to let him sacrifice his virtue for the mission.

Alicia snorted. "Oh for goodness' sake. I'll do it."

Bruce scowled. "No."

"Let me be frank here, Mr. Wayne. I am your best choice for this assignment. I have more experience in this department than even Dick, nothing to lose like Tim has, I'm not innocent like Damian, and I can act and look well beyond the legal age when I want too. Now that all my bruises have faded I have absolutely no distinguishing marks. I'm attractive enough to pass as a tramp with a bit of makeup, goodness knows I've done it before. And, lastly, you obviously need this information pretty badly if you're willing to even consider a mission like this. You let me do this and I guarantee you'll have your information before two weeks are up."

Dick grimaced. "I hate to say it, Bruce, but she has a pretty good point. She's our best option for this."

"We don't even know if we can trust her," Damian pointed out.

"You probably never will," Alicia said flatly. "I'm a spy. An infiltrator. An actress. Trusting someone like me, no matter how trustworthy we may be, is never a good idea."

"I still think I-" Tim began.

"No," they all chorused.

He sighed and threw his hands up in surrender. "Fine."

Bruce turned his attention back to Alicia and stared at her hard for a very long moment. "Okay. You leave tomorrow."

She snatched the dossier from the table. "I'll be ready."


	6. Chapter 6

A week into the mission and Batman got a file from Alicia containing all of the information he needed and then some. He pulled her out the next day.

She was quiet when Dick brought her home. Too quiet. She almost seemed absent, lost in some distant thought or memory.

"Hey," he asked, "are you going to be alright?"

"Hmm? I'll be okay. Just give me a bit of time."

"I wish you hadn't had to go on this stupid mission," he muttered.  
Her hand rested gently on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I made it out in one piece, didn't I?"

"Did you? Did you really?"

She glanced away. "I don't know, Dick. I honestly don't know. I mean, I'm pretty sure I wasn't whole to begin with, so what does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! Just because you're hurt doesn't mean I want you broken."

"I'm already broken, Richie. And I'm all the more dangerous for it. Hey," she said, smiling to cheer him up. "I'm okay. I promise."

He sighed. "I hope so, Ali. I really hope so."

She stared out of the car window to avoid having to look him in the eye. "Me too, Dick," she whispered.

Dick reported straight to Bruce when they got back. He was taking advantage of the fact that Alicia had gone with Alfred, to wash her makeup off and get something to eat, to talk to the Batman alone.  
"How is she?" Bruce asked without turning around.

Dick walked down the last few steps into the Cave. "Alive. She says she's fine, but I'm not buying it."

"What would you think about letting her work with us?"

"No. Absolutely not."

Bruce turned the computer chair around, eyebrow raised. "Why not? This is going to happen again. You know it will. And if we're going to be sending her on missions, we might as well make her officially one of us. It wouldn't hurt to give her a code name and some extra training, not that she doesn't train enough as it is."

Dick crossed his arms. "No, Bruce. This won't happen again. She can't handle it."

"Shouldn't I be the judge of that?" Bruce asked.

"Actually," Alicia began, stepping into the Batcave, "I should." She set the tray she was carrying down and started passing things out. "Coffee with two creams for Dick, coffee with one cream and one sugar for Bruce, and tea with honey for me. The cookies are for all of us. Alfred said so. Now, what were you discussing that I can't handle?"

"I don't think you should go on another mission like that," Dick told her.  
"We had a discussion about me not being a child. As in, I'm an adult and you need to treat me accordingly. Or have you forgotten that already?"

"You can't handle it. It's not good for you."

"I don't think I have to point out how hypocritical you're being right now. Besides, whether or not I can handle a mission isn't your decision to make. It's mine. I'd say that I handled that mission fairly well. The fact that I'm here to say that proves my point. But if you can prove to me that you handle missions like that better than I did, I'll back off. Well, can you?"

Dick sighed. "No."

"Okay then. Was there anything else?"

"How would you feel about officially being one of us?" Bruce asked.

She raised an eyebrow head tilting slightly. "You mean, actually being a Bat-sanctioned operative? As in, not worrying about whether or not you're going to suddenly decide to try to pull me out again. As in, not an uneasy truce but an actual alliance. Is that what you mean by 'one of you'?"

Bruce nodded. "If you're going to be going on missions, I'd like you to at least have a code name. And it wouldn't hurt to give you a costume and a bit of experience on the streets. Think of it as combat training, if you will."

"Hmm...You sure you want to trust me that much?"

"Yes."

"Okay, why not? Could be interesting." She shrugged, grinning wickedly.  
The corners of Bruce's mouth lifted for a brief second. "Let me know when you've got a name and we can start coming up with a costume for you."

"'Kay. I'll be in the gym if you need me."

Dick shook his head. "I hope you know what you're doing, Bruce."

"So do I, Dick."

Damian was already in the gym when she got there.

"I heard that Father is giving you a costume, finally. Have you decided who you will be?"

Alicia flashed Damian a quick smile, then returned to her drill. "I was thinking something dark. Maybe Black Swan. Any opinions?"

"Black swan," Damian mused. "It will do."

"You think so?"

"Would I have said so otherwise? It suits you."

"It does, doesn't it? Bruce is the white king; Richard is the white knight; Timothy is the white queen; you're the black rook playing for the white side, which makes you more grey than black, come to think of it; and I don't fit anywhere on the chess board."

"Tt. Don't be silly. Of course you fit. You are the bishop. Which side does not matter. You could win as either one with little difficulty. Why do you think I have allied myself with you?"

"Because I very nearly beat you in that spar. Because I actually did beat your father in that spar. Because you were slightly impressed by how far I am willing to go to ensure the success of my mission. Because I somehow managed to get everyone else in this house to treat me like an adult, something you've been trying to do for years without success, even though you secretly like being allowed to act your age. Did I get everything?"

"Nearly," he admitted grudgingly. "You are also not entirely displeasing to look at."

She stopped and looked over at him.

He blushed. "I simply meant that your beauty causes you to be frequently underestimated, making you even more dangerous."

Alicia smiled. "It is something of a tactical advantage. You're sharp to notice that. Most people don't."

"Tt. Of course I noticed." Damian's cheeks were still flaming red.

Alicia pecked him on one of those cheeks as she passed, right on top of the blush. "Going to have to start calling you Little Hawk, you're so perceptive. I'm gonna go catch a nap. See you later, Damian."

He waited until she was gone to reach up and touch his cheek, eyes wide with wonder. She had kissed him.

It would be a while before he got around to training.


	7. Chapter 7

Dick walked in while Alicia was changing. It was an accident, of course and the only piece of clothing she had removed was her shirt, but it was still incredibly awkward. Not that Dick noticed. His focus was all on the long, thick line of scar tissue tuning diagonally across Alicia's back.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" she asked crossly.

He strode over and pressed his fingers to the scar. "Ali... What happened?"

She sighed. "It's a long story and an old scar, Dick."

His eyes traced it's length from the top of her right shoulder to where it met the waist of her jeans at the back of her left hip. "It's huge. I don't have any scars this big, though I've got a couple that come close. I don't think even Bruce has any scars this big. How can you even move?"

"I'll tell you what, you rub my shoulder - the scarred one - and I'll tell you how I got the scar."

"Deal."

"Just let me put my shirt back on first. And leave the door open. I don't need your dad coming in here and roughing me up because he thinks we're doing something inappropriate."

Dick sat down on the bed and waited patiently for Alicia to sit next to him. He gently massaged her scarred shoulder as she began to talk.

"I'm warning you now, Dick, this story is going to upset you pretty badly. Okay, where to start... You remember how I met Batman? He stopped an assassination I was attempting. And how I told you that my failure to complete my assignment earned me a beating? The scar is a product of that beating. Mr. Prince had a nasty temper. It's why he killed my mom. He started out just hitting me like always, but one of my trainers tried to intervene. He snatched my katana, killed him, and slashed me.

"The only reason I survived is there was a doctor, friend of his, right there. I owe that man my life. Only reason I didn't kill him when I took him down eight months later. Mr. Prince later got a magic user to take away most of the lingering pain and the movement problems the scar caused once the wound healed. They left the scar itself, though. Reminder of the price of failure and all that. So that's the story behind that scar. Are you satisfied, or should I detail the recovery period? I can. My memory is nearly eidetic."

Dick stared at her with wide eyes, horrified. She stared back blankly, calm. Perfectly collected. Dick snatched her up into a hug, muttering things into her hair. She bore it patiently, waiting for him to get himself together.

"Richard," she interrupted after about ten minutes. "I'm getting stiff."

He jerked back. "Sorry! Sorry."

Alicia stood and stretched; reaching up, bending down and touching her toes, then clasping her hands behind her back and twisting around. "Don't sweat it. Just don't tell Bruce, okay? I'm not crippled by any stretch of the imagination, but he's the kind of person who would want to treat me like I am."

"I won't tell."

She smiled at him. "So, what did you want when you came to find me?"

"Oh. Uh... I was going to see if you wanted to go out and do something fun."

"A date? Really?" She laughed at his red face. "Relax, I'm messing with you."

"I just figured you need to cheer up. And since I'm going to be your big brother, it's my job to cheer you up."

"You're what?"

He winced. "Oops. Wasn't supposed to tell you. Way to go, Grayson. You ruined the surprise."

"I'm not even going to ask," Alicia said flatly. Changing the subject, she asked, "Something fun, huh? Oh gosh. It's been forever since I did something just for fun. I hope you had something in mind, because I don't even know where to start."

"I had thought maybe you would like that new arcade downtown."

"I don't know how to play arcade games."

"Then I guess I'm going to have to teach you, aren't I?"

"Guess so."

Dick bought them each twenty dollars worth of tokens before dragging Alicia into the thick of things.

"Okay, so how this works is you buy the tokens to spend on games and you earn tickets from the games. Earn enough tickets and you can exchange them for a cool prize."

"Sounds simple enough," Alicia said. "What are we playing first?"

"Let's try shooting some hoops. You should be good at that." They put their tokens in the slots and the balls rolled down. "Just make as many baskets as you can in one minute."

Alicia picked up her ball and tossed it, watching it swish through the net. "Is this meant to be insulting?" she questioned. She managed eight baskets before time ran out.

"No, not really."

"Oh." Alicia frowned at the tickets the machine spat out. She plucked them from its grasp and held them out to Dick. "Here. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with these."

"Fifteen. Nice." He handed them back. "Hold onto those until we're ready to get our prizes."

He started walking and she trailed after him. "Where are we going?"

"To the shooting games."

Alicia quickly discovered that she found most of the so-called "shooting games" distasteful. She enjoyed the space themed shooter, however, and earned several hundred tickets playing it. Dick seemed happy to just watch her have fun. Every time she smiled, his smile grew.  
They tried the games of chance next, and it was Alicia's turn to teach Dick something. It turned out that she knew how to predict the outcomes and had the timing games in the bag. She hit jackpot on the games with the moving lights several times while she was showing Dick how to win.

Skee Ball was fun, as were air hockey and the racing games. When they finally ran out of tokens, Dick dragged Alicia over to the ticket-counting machines to find out how many they had won. Dick's total came up to thirty thousand. Alicia's hit fifty. (Most of that came from the jackpots on the timing games.)

"What prize are you going to get?" Dick asked her.

"I was thinking about getting something for Damian. As an apology for taking his big brother away for the afternoon. Think he'd like that DS?"

"You're not going to get anything for yourself?"

"Maybe a stuffed animal, but there's not really much here that interests me. You can have any leftover tickets."

Alicia did end up buying the DS. The fact that it had a Robin themed skin on it was just too hilarious to pass up. She also bought a sock-cat. Not a monkey, a cat. Made out of rainbow socks. She pointedly ignored Dick's grin.

Dick got a whole bunch of Batman and Superman themed stuff. And many, many bouncy balls. And a fox hat. And several bracelets and rings and necklaces. And candy. So much candy. Alfred was not going to be pleased about the candy.

They returned to the Manor with smiles on their faces and light in their hearts.

Alicia carried the DS in one hand and knocked on Damian's door with the other. "You in there, Little Hawk?"

He opened the door. "What do you want?" It didn't come out nearly as annoyed as he'd hoped it would.

She handed the device to him. "Here. Dick took me to the arcade and I got entirely too many tickets. I'm not all that interested in video games, but I thought you might like it. It's at least kind of ironic."

Damian examined it, then looked back at her. "You are sure?"

"Positive. Take it off my hands, would ya?"

"Very well then. I- Thank you."

"You're welcome, Damian." She smiled at him and walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

Bruce looked over the paper Alicia had given him. He approved of her choice of names. Black Swan struck him as rather appropriate. He wasn't sure what to do about her costume, though. She hadn't sketched out anything except the mask (which was a black, feathered thing, almost a Carnival mask). Instead, she had handed him a list of requirements and said, "Surprise me." One thing was for sure: No matter what he did, he wasn't letting Dick near the designs. As much as Bruce loved his eldest son, the man had no fashion sense whatsoever.

She rejected his first design.

("Too much armor. No, don't give me your safety speech. I am safest when I'm free to move. Try again.")

And his second.

("I would trip over that cape every second step. So impractical. I've never understood how you manage. Try again.")

By the fifth attempt ("Now you're just messing it up to spite me.") Bruce was getting rather frustrated.

"Why don't you just design your own costume?" he asked.

She looked at him, startled. "You genuinely don't know? I thought you might appreciate getting to know me, since you've never really had the opportunity and you seem insistent about keeping me around. Figuring out what I like and don't like by designing a uniform for me is good way to do that."

He blinked. Stared at her for a second. Then he went back to the drawing board.

He did eventually get it right. Close enough, anyway. ("Not horrible. No flaws that would cause a problem. It'll do. Nice try, Bruce.")

The winning design was mostly inspired by the mask she had sketched. The black bodysuit was simple with minimal armor and a few hidden pockets. The utility belt was grey, not the traditional yellow. The boots were the same as the ones for Tim's Red Robin costume. The gloves were a lot like the ones she had worn before, but the palms were reinforced. The cape stood out. It went down to about six inches above her ankles, a little more than halfway between them and her knees. The shoulders had grey, embroidered feathers, and the edge was made to look like the edge of a wing.

The finishing touch was a new variation on the shuriken they all used. Instead of batarangs, Alicia's were designed to look like a swan with its neck bent around to peer over its shoulder. She was amused. The bird's pose was ridiculously ironic, despite the fact that Bruce hadn't meant it to be. Ironic because Alicia had spent her life looking over her shoulder wondering if someone was going to stab her in the back.

She wore the costume for the first time the next night. It fit. So Batman took his newest agent, his latest soldier, to meet the Police Commissioner. He didn't take part in the meeting, instead choosing to wait in the shadows to see how she handled it.

"Commissioner Gordon," she greeted, making him jump.

He frowned. "Who are you?"

"I'm called Black Swan. Currently, I have no other name."

Bruce would never quite cease to be impressed by the way she gave her voice an almost musical lilt. It worked incredibly well to disguise it.

"What do you want?"

"The Batman thought it best that I introduce myself to you, rather than letting you hear about me in the news."

"Another one of you? This city has too many vigilantes already. It doesn't need another one!"

"Hmm. I'm sure you would know. But I'm not just a vigilante, I'm a specialist. An information gatherer. A deep cover agent. A spy, if you will."

"And who are you spying for?"

"I'm a Bat-sanctioned operative, meaning that I answer to the Batman."  
He crossed his arms.

She laughed lightly, a sound that was somehow both dark and pleasant at once. "My, you are a sharp one. To answer your question, Commissioner, I serve only the Bat and myself. No one and nothing else."

"You'll have to excuse me if I don't believe you."

"Consider yourself thoroughly excused."

An understanding passed between them then. Gordon turned away and she left as silently as she had come, slipping into the night.  
Batman met her a few blocks away.

"I like him," she said thoughtfully. "He's smart. Not much slips past him. I can see why you're so willing to work with the man."

"You're patrolling with me tonight. Follow my lead and do exactly as I say."

"Given that this isn't my area of expertise, I'm happy to let you take point. Lead the way."

Alicia was an expert fighter, but by the end of the night it was clear that she would need to work on her endurance if she was going to be patrolling regularly. Nevertheless, they made it back to the Cave unharmed aside from a few minor bumps and bruises.

"Robin to Batman, over."

Bruce tapped the button on his comm link. "What's the situation?"

"Nightwing walked into one of Poison Ivy's traps. He is unconscious at the moment, but-"

"Can you get him back to the Cave?"

"Not while he's knocked out, and I do not think waking him up would be a good idea."

"This is Red Robin to Robin, I've got the Red Bird and I'm on my way. Eta five minutes. Tie him up and wait for me to get there. Did you administer the antidote?"

"It didn't work. Why do you think I knocked him out?" Damian snapped.

"Calm down, Little Hawk," Alicia interrupted firmly. "Nightwing will be fine."

"He is not the one I am worried about right now. I got hit by some of the backlash from the trap, and it is rather difficult to knock yourself out. I do not wish to risk the toxin reacting badly with a sedative."

Bruce sucked in a breath. To Alicia's trained eyes he looked on the verge of his equivalent to panic. And with good reason. Two of his sons were in potentially life-threatening danger. The chances of Dick dying were slim, but Damian was awake, moving around and talking, and because of that the chemicals would spread quickly throughout his system, cutting the time they had to find a working anti-toxin in half.

"I'm going to assume that you gave yourself the antidote as well and just skip that question altogether. Did it do anything at all?" Alicia asked.

"It helped, but only just. I doubt I will be rational for much longer."

"Red Robin, knock Robin out when you get there," Batman ordered. "Then bring them both back to the Cave so we can synthesize an antidote."

They heard a thud and Robin's comm link turned off. "Loading them in the Red Bird now. I'll keep you updated on their condition."

"Thank you, Red Robin. Black Swan out."

All Bruce said was, "Hurry."

There were ten tense minutes in which Alicia and Bruce had little to do but wait. Bruce called down Alfred and told him to prepare the med-bay while Alicia attempted to review the various antidotes and anti-toxins that had been used in the past. Attempted because she quickly discovered that she knew nothing about chemistry and was really only in the way.

"Red Robin to the Cave. Nightwing seems to be fine, but Robin's fever is dangerously high."

Alicia replied. "Batman is beginning work on something to bring their fevers down as we speak. It should be ready by the time you get here."

"It'd better be. I'm not sure if Damian will make it without some kind of help."

"We'll think of something," Bruce said, glancing at Alicia. "Keep checking in. Batman out." He turned to Alicia to say, "If we can't find an antidote fast enough, something else will have to be done."

"I know," she said simply. "If it comes down to it, we both know what course of action will be taken."

Bruce nodded and returned to his work. Alicia looked around for something, anything, to do and ended up settling on changing out of her costume into some light grey sweats and a pastel green tank top. She declined Alfred's offer of coffee in favor of doing her level best to kill a training dummy.

Three increasingly worried updates later and the Red Bird was pulling into the Batcave. Alicia and Bruce both abandoned their tasks to help Tim get the two unconscious persons to the med bay and properly restrained. Just in case they woke up. Alicia sat down beside Damian's unconscious form to wait.

Despite the drugs they administered, Damian's fever continued to rise and he started shivering uncontrollably. He groaned, sounding pained.

Alicia did her best to soothe him. "Shh. It's okay, Damian. Your father is working on an antidote right now. You're going to be fine. No matter what happens."

He groaned again and she slipped her hand into his impulsively. His grip tightened around it almost instantly. Was it her imagination, or did his temperature drop a tiny bit?

Bruce's hand rested gently on her shoulder. "How is he?"

"Not good," she said. "Not good at all."

"We're about half done with the antidote."

"That's not close enough. Feel his forehead, Bruce. By time you finish synthesizing that thing his fever will have risen too high and killed him. Dick is fine to wait for the antidote, but Damian? I'm not liking the odds here."

"I know. You're right." He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Take Damian upstairs and do whatever you need to. Tim, Alfred, and I will keep working on an antidote for Dick."

Bruce helped her remove Damian's restraints and get him on his feet, then let go and turned away as she half-led, half-carried him up the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Damian woke up without a stitch on, lying in bed next to an equally clothesless Alicia. He started to sit up, but fell flat on his back when his head began spinning violently.

She stirred and looked over at him, concerned. "Hey, you okay?"

He blushed. "My head is pounding. What happened?"

"What do you remember about patrol last night?"

"Not much," he admitted. "My memory starts to get fuzzy about halfway through the night."

"You and Dick stumbled into one of Poison Ivy's traps, and you didn't have an antidote that worked on that particular strain of plant toxin. You knocked out Dick to give him more time before the effects set in, but you stayed awake to call for help. Tim knocked you out when he got there and brought you both back to the Cave, but by then the toxin was already in your bloodstream and affecting you. It was really bad. We thought-" She broke off and shook her head. "We thought we were going to lose you. Your fever hit a hundred and seven and kept climbing. It's a miracle you don't have any major brain damage. You don't have any brain damage, by the way. Bruce checked."

"How am I alive?" Damian asked, not sure he wanted an answer.

"We didn't have time to wait until the antidote was completed, so Bruce told me to do whatever needed to be done. You can guess the rest for yourself."

"Did we-?" He blushed crimson.

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

He groaned and buried his face in a pillow. Unintelligible mutterings were heard coming from it.

"Alfred was not pleased, but he's letting it slide this once in light of the fact that your life was on the line." Alicia sighed and bent down to press a kiss behind his ear and whisper, "You scared me. Don't ever do that again."

Damian turned his face out of the pillow, regarded her for a moment, then gathered her into his arms. The action was timid, but sincere. "I will try."

She smiled faintly, eyes closing. "That's all I can ask."

"Is Richard-?"

"He's fine, Dami. Go to sleep."

They slept like that for a while. Not even Alfred had the heart to disturb them when they looked so peaceful. They parted when they woke up, of course, though neither of them forgot what had happened.

Alicia relapsed in her sleeping habits, but started smiling when Damian was around. A loving smile that was as soft as she could manage. Damian blushed whenever he saw Alicia, but he also became strangely protective of her. If she tripped and fell down, he was there to pick her up and check that she hadn't hurt herself. When he got upset, she helped him calm down and made him laugh and smile. But they also argued quite a bit. Explosive fights that made everyone except Tim run for cover.

Tim was used to fights like that, and his only response was to grab some popcorn and watch. He claimed that it was highly entertaining to see Damian yell at someone else for a change. Especially since that someone was unafraid of yelling back.

Watching the two of them interact was, as Dick put it, like watching a waltz performed in a field full of land mines. Beautiful, but a disaster waiting to happen.

A month and a half after her night with Damian, Alicia sought out Timothy in the gym. "Tim."

"Ali. What's up?"

"I've got a mission, and Bruce gave me permission to take you along."

"What kind of mission?" Tim asked warily.

"Milder than my usual fare. I wouldn't even consider bringing you with me if it weren't. You've held on to that little bit of purity very well. I'm not about to be the one to have it taken from you."

"Thanks, I guess." Tim frowned. "But you're avoiding the question."

She smiled. A very unkind smile. "The mission is to go to a society ball being hosted by Ra's al Ghul. Here in Gotham, of course. He's taunting Bruce. We got an invitation and everything. Well, technically, I got an invitation. And I want you to be my plus one."

Tim stared at her like she had grown a second head. "You're insane. Ra's will either kill me or kidnap me. Do you want me dead? Because I'm starting to wonder."

"I notice you're not saying no. Your, dare I say, understanding of how Ra's works is one of two reasons I want you going with me. The other main reason being that I really do need an escort and you're the best person for the job. Let's face it, Dick is a bit too old, no matter how childish he acts, and Damian is far too young for the character I'll be using."

Tim blinked at her. "Forget Ra's, Damian is going to have my head for this."

"But you'll do it?"

"I'll do it. I'm the only one who hasn't had a chance to see you work."

"Damian hasn't seen me work," she pointed out.

"What, your act on patrol last night doesn't count? Damian was very impressed, by the way. He spent an hour talking about it to bug me."

"That wasn't work, that was just a game. I'll tell Bruce you'll do it and we can discuss the details with him later. The ball isn't until next week." She waved at him over her shoulder as she strode out of the door, a pleased smile on her face.


	10. Chapter 10

One week later, Alicia put the finishing touches on her makeup and stepped out of the changing room. "Ready, Tim?"

Tim nodded, straightening his tie. "You look lovely, Miss Strafford." He offered an arm. "Shall we?"

She took it with a polite smile, changing her voice rather dramatically as she answered, "Indeed we shall. Our host will be so terribly upset if we're late."

Damian watched from the side, glaring, restrained by Dick's hand on his shoulder. "Just go already," he snapped.

Alicia let go of Tim and strode over, stiletto heels clicking, to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "For luck." Then she and Tim went up the stairs, got in Tim's car, and were gone.

The ball was a relatively small affair when compared with the parties held at the Manor. Nevertheless, it was lavishly decorated and it seemed as if no expense had been spared. A string quartet played classical music in the background as servers in green and gold uniforms walked among the guests offering drinks and h'orderves. Tim and Alicia mingled with the guests for a while before Alicia was approached by a servant.

"Excuse me, Miss, my master would like a word with you."

Alicia handed her untouched champaign off to Tim and followed the servant to Ra's' office. The man himself greeted her, then promptly offered a chair when he saw her shoes.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "You have no idea how much I hate heels."

"I can imagine. That particular pair look more like lethal weapons than shoes."

"What can I say? The Bat is paranoid. He would've had me wearing steel-toed boots if he thought I could get away with it. But enough about my shoes. You had me come for a reason. I'm very curious."

"I merely wished to make the acquaintance of the most gifted espionage agent of this age."

"Flattery is appreciated, but gets you nowhere."

"I'm simply stating a fact, my dear. You are the most talented spy alive. To be blunt, you interest me."

"Are you hoping to purchase my services?"

"No. I have no need of them at this time. I am hoping to convince you to at least consider joining me."

Alicia raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do continue. Tell me why I should switch to your side."

Ra's raised his own eyebrow in return, but listed the reasons anyway. "The Detective holds you back. He has you playing by his rules, even though he knows that you could do so much more if he allowed you to do things your way. He doesn't trust you. I won't lie and say that I would, but with me you would be allowed to come and go as you pleased. You could travel the world and live in absolute luxury wherever you went. Your only responsibility would be the missions I assigned you, and those would be infrequent. My forces would bow down to you as they do to me. I am offering you freedom and the respect that you deserve."

"And I am tempted. But I'm going to have to say no. I already have an al Ghul to be loyal to and I would so hate to break your grandson's heart."

"My grandson is in love with you?" Ra's sounded amused.

"It was just a crush up until he and Nightwing had a rather unfortunate run-in with some of Ivy's plants. An antidote was found for Nightwing. Your grandson couldn't afford to wait."

"Interesting. And the Detective allowed your...alternate solution?"

"He didn't have a choice."

"I would assume that this has caused some...complications in your relationships with the Detective and his family."

She smiled wryly. "Other than making Damian rather possessive? Nothing dramatic. It helps that Bruce was the one to suggest it, though the butler was terribly upset with me for a time. He very strongly disapproves of my profession and he still mistrusts me because of it. I don't mind. I like a challenge."

"Should I be concerned by your decision to bring the younger Detective with you tonight?"

"Who else could I bring?"

"I had assumed you would be escorted by the Acrobat."

"No. Too childish for my character. And your grandson is much too inexperienced, though I hope to change that. Bruce is too old even with my acting skills. No, it had to be Tim."

"And of course it was a point in his favor that he has had dealings with me before."

"Oh, absolutely."

Ra's helped her up politely and walked her back to the entrance to the ballroom. "This has been a most diverting evening. Thank you for your time."

"Thank you for yours. I'll keep your offer in mind."

"Please do."

"If it's all the same to you, I believe Timothy and I will take our leave now."

"Very well. Have a good night, Miss Strafford."

Alicia fluttered her eyelashes at him, back in character. "And you as well, Mr. al Ghul."

She rejoined Timothy and pleaded a headache to signal that she wanted to leave. He got them out of there, grateful for the excuse. On the car ride back to the Manor, Tim spoke up.

"What did he want?"

"Me. Specifically, he wanted me to work for him."

"Did you say yes?"

Alicia glared, offended. "What kind of person do you take me for? I made my choice in sides when I became Black Swan. I'm not going back on that now."

Tim nodded. "What did he offer?"

"Freedom to come and go as I please. Some authority over his forces. Respect. Nothing I don't already have."

"You have power over the League of Shadows?"

"There are a few assassins who owe me their lives. And more than a couple of favors. Failing that, I have enough blackmail material to last a good century."

Tim decided not to ask.


	11. Chapter 11

The debriefing with Bruce went well enough. Afterwards, Tim headed up to bed and Alicia went to go speak with Damian. He was sitting in the living room. Dick was with him, attempting to have a conversation. Damian was ignoring him outright, staring into space with his arms crossed, looking intensely displeased.

Alicia coughed to alert them to her presence. "I'll take it from here, Richard. If you could just give us a moment?"

Dick nodded to her, then got up and left. He shot Alicia a meaningful look on his way out.

She sat carefully next to Damian on the couch. "Dami..." Her hand covered his own.

He looked at her. "You have not changed out of your disguise. Why?"

"To make a point. One of several that we ought to discuss."

"I do not wish to speak with you. You will simply continue to play with my emotions."

"Why would I do that?"

"It is your job."

"And a game I enjoy playing," she conceded. "Alright, let me rephrase that. Why would I do that to an ally?"

"If you can make us trust you and want you around, your place here becomes secure."

"True. But what if you catch on to what I'm doing? Your father and brother are the world's greatest detectives."

"And you are the world's most skilled undercover agent."

"It's still too big of a risk. Especially since there are other ways to earn trust. Better ones. Ways that won't get me kicked out of Gotham if you or someone else figures out what I'm doing. I value your good opinion too much to take that chance."

"Correction, you value Father's good opinion."

"Wrong. I don't care about your father. I respect him, but the only attention I pay him is to make sure he stays out of my way. I owe him no loyalty and I owe him no obedience, though I give it anyway. Obedience, I mean."

"Then you stay simply to have a place? Or are you here to sabotage us somehow?"

"Neither. I stay because there is someone here that I am loyal to."

"Who? Grayson? Drake?"

"You." Alicia met his suspicious gaze levelly. "I won't lie and say that I don't care about your family, but you're the only one I'd risk my life for."

"Why?"

"Because we're a lot alike. You would go just as far as I did, if that was what it took to complete the mission. And maybe I love you a bit more than is strictly safe. I chose Tim tonight because it was practical. Not because I don't care about you." She squeezed his hand and stood. "I'm going downstairs to change and then I'm going to bed. Might as well catch up on sleep while I can."

Damian watched her go. And he made a decision. He went down to the Cave to talk to his father.

"Yes, Damian?" Bruce asked.

"I would like your permission to court Alicia."

Bruce - Batman - frowned. "I'm not sure I approve. She's dangerous. We can't trust her."

"Yet we do. She will not hurt me, Father."

"You can't be sure of that."

"I can and I am."

"I only want to protect you." Bruce couldn't help but think of how easily she had twisted people around her pinky finger in the past, only to break their hearts, and occasionally their minds, when they were no longer useful.

Damian narrowed his eyes. "I will court her with or without your blessing, Father."

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then you have it. Be careful."

"Tt. I am perfectly safe."

Alicia was the next one to enter the Batcave. In her pajamas.

"You called, Bruce? What do you want? I'm not your pet, you know. I could have just ignored you.

"My son intends to court you."

"Which one? Obviously not Dick. He wants so badly to be my big brother." A warm smile stole across her face. "Not your little prodigal. He doesn't like me and he wouldn't go to you. Not Tim. He'd rather have me for a friend. Damian? I had noticed his crush, but didn't think it was anything too serious."

Bruce nodded, gauging her reaction. "I gave him my blessing. But I need to know if you love him and I need your word that you won't hurt him."

Alicia sighed, sitting down on a flat part of the computer. "To be honest, Bruce, I'm not sure if I'm capable of actual love anymore. Do I love Damian? In a way. I would give my life if it benefited him, help him regardless of the cost. Is that good enough for you? I would never intentionally hurt him if there was another option available. Is that love?" She shrugged. "Regardless, you have my word that no harm will come to him from me."

Bruce nodded. "That's good enough."

"Excellent. If we're quite done here, I have Zs to catch."

She bumped into Damian on her way upstairs. He started to speak, but she hushed him and led the way to a disused sitting room. "So we can talk without fear of being overheard," she explained when he gave her an odd look. "This is one of the few rooms in the Manor that isn't bugged."

"I would court you," he informed her, "if you would have me."

"To what end?"

"Marriage. We will both be of age to legally marry in no more than two and a half years. I will have your hand then, if you would allow it."

She sat down in one of the plush chairs and folded her hands in her lap, looking up at him. "I would. Under one condition: When I die, you have to let go. Promise me that."

"You cannot ask me to simply move on!" he protested.

She shook her head. "I'm not. It wouldn't be fair to make you promise something like that."

"Then what? What must I do to have you?"

"Promise me that when I die, you won't try to bring me back. I don't care if someone else does, or if I come back as a side-effect of one of the depressingly frequent crises that plague Gotham. But I don't want you wasting your time trying to save someone who's already gone."

Damian gulped, looking away. "I promise."

"Thank you."

"You will permit my advances?"

Alicia smiled. "Of course."

"Then if I may be so bold, I would like you to accompany me to dinner on Friday."

She took the offered hand and he helped her up. "I would be delighted to spend an evening in such wonderful company."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you hadn't noticed, there are what appear to be continuity errors in Alicia's dialogue and actions. Those are there on purpose. Keep in mind that she's a spy by trade. Deception and manipulation are basically her thing. (All will be revealed...in time...


	12. Chapter 12

Friday dawned bright and early with an Arkham escape at ten in the morning. It was an all hands on deck situation. Red Robin and Nightwing got sent to deal with Poison Ivy and Catwoman while Batman hunted down Joker and Robin and Black Swan dealt with the chaos at the Asylum itself.

It was going pretty well. The vast majority of the inmates had been knocked unconscious and were awaiting return to their cells. Then the Red Hood, Jason Todd, walked out of the asylum holding a smoking gun.

He laughed when he saw them. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Bat-brat. What are you doing with Prince's hit-girl?"

Black Swan smiled charmingly at him. "Ah, Red Hood. I'd say it's good to see you again, but I know how much you hate liars."

Damian growled at him. "Leave, Todd. Leave or get back in your cell. We have better things to be doing than standing around talking to you. Come, Swan. We're done here."

He started to walk away and she followed his lead, causing Jason to scoff at them. "What, so you belong to him now? He's your new master now that someone iced Prince?"

Damian froze, but Alicia just turned around to fix Jason with her most blindingly bright smile. "I iced Prince. And I belong to no one. Be smart and remember that, Hood." Then she turned back around and walked off, Damian in her wake.

On their way back to the Cave, they encountered ninja. Five of them.

"League of Shadows," Damian hissed, palming a birdarang as they ducked behind an air-conditioning unit for cover.

Alicia pulled an explosive pellet from her belt. Her voice was a strained whisper in Damian's ear. "In Gotham? Has Ra's lost it? No offense, Robin."

"None take. And those are not Grandfather's operatives. They are Mother's."

"That's either a huge relief, or an even bigger reason to worry. I'm going to go with 'reason to worry'. Talia al Ghul never does anything without cause. If her flunkies are here... Either she's in Gotham, or she's planning something."

Damian nodded. "I don't like this."

"Should we take them down? Maybe see what they know?"

"They won't know anything."

"Still worth a shot. Besides, ninja annoy me."

Damian huffed a laugh and gave the hand signal for split up. They flanked the group of ninja. Then Alicia gave the signal and they jumped down in unison.

"Your mistress should know better than to send her lackeys here," Black Swan said in that peculiar, lilting voice.

Their leader sneered. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"Badly trained lackeys, too," she said, not dignifying that comment with a response.

"Why are you here?" Robin growled.

They stayed silent. Black swan felled their leader with a strike that cracked at least one of his ribs.

"Rethink your answer," Robin told them. "Now. Why are you here?"

"We- we're just scouts," one of them stammered. 

His comrade standing behind him snapped his neck. "Idiot."

Black Swan burst out laughing. "Did Talia al Ghul send trainees? Because this is just pathetic."

"Do not speak of her that way! You are not worthy to even say her name!" Their leader was outraged.

"Tt." All eyes turned to Robin. "I had forgotten just how swelled Mother's head is. Leave. Flee Gotham and don't return. And we might just let you live."

The ninja ran.

Alicia stood there with crossed arms, frowning thoughtfully. "Scouting for what?"

Damian's lips thinned into a straight, white line as he pressed them together. "I don't know, but it must be big. Mother doesn't send scouts unless she's planning something huge. We need to know more."

"We also need to tell your father what just happened."

"Agreed."

They went immediately back to the Cave. And by unspoken agreement they waited until Dick had gone upstairs to talk to Bruce.

Alicia cut straight to the point. "We ran into a group of League ninja on the way back here. Also, Red Hood is free again, but that's not important right now."

Bruce frowned. "Ra's-"

Damian interrupted. "Mother, not Grandfather."

"They claimed to be scouts, and given that they silenced the one who said that as soon as the words were out of his mouth, I'd say it's probably the truth," Alicia said. "Which worries me, because that would imply that Talia al Ghul is planning something. Or it was a training exercise. I'm hoping it was just a training exercise. Interrogation training, or something like that. How to behave in enemy territory."

Bruce's frown turned into an outright scowl. "We need to know more."

"Agreed." Damian nodded. "Perhaps we could track down and question some of her lieutenants."

Alicia shook her head. "They wouldn't say a word - if they knew anything to begin with - and she'd notice if they went missing for even a little while."

"How can you be sure of that?" Bruce asked her, honestly curious. He agreed with her, but he wanted to know her reasoning. This wasn't a side of her that they got to see very often.

Damian listened to her explanation carefully, wanting to know what she thought of his mother.

"If she's smart - and from what little I know of her, I'd say she is - she keeps a very close eye on her people. Higher-ups especially. It's how any criminal organization works, especially one that big. She knows she can't trust them, so she makes sure they're always monitored. It's protection against anyone who might try to stage a coup. Even Mr. Prince operated that way. It's just common sense. Keep your friends close and potential threats closer."

"And Talia is many things, but stupid isn't one of them," Bruce finished. "Let me know if you come up with any other ways to gather information, but for now you two should head upstairs. Alfred made cookies. If you don't hurry, Dick will have eaten all of them."

Alfred smiled at them when they entered the kitchen. "Young Master Damian, Mistress Alicia, it is good to see that you have returned to us safely."

Alicia smiled back, selecting a cookie. "It's good to be back, Alfred. If I ever see another giggling idiot again it will be much too soon."

Dick snickered. "That bad, huh?"

"Next time," she told him, "you get crowd control." Dick gave her his most genuine dejected look. She gave him a flat stare. "Don't try that act with me. I invented that act."

Alfred cleared his throat. "If I may, Master Damian, I took the liberty of making a reservation at that Italian restaurant Master Bruce favors for some of his more serious dates. It is for four thirty, so I suggest that you and Mistress Alicia go change."

They expressed their thanks and went up to their rooms.

Dick watched them go, shocked. "They're going on a date? But they're supposed to be siblings! Bruce was going to adopt her and everything." 

"Master Bruce stopped the proceedings when young Master Damian went to him to ask for permission to court Mistress Alicia. He has made her his ward instead, to avoid any legal complications when they eventually get married."

Dick spluttered.

"Master Damian does not do things half way. If he is courting her, it is with the intent of marriage. And Mistress Alicia would not allow his advances were she not amenable to that. They are as much in love as it is possible for the two of them to be."

"They're too young to be in love!"

"If I recall correctly, you first started dating Miss Gordon at that age."

"That was just puppy love."

"Were that the case, Master Richard, you would not have gotten back together with her so many times over the years."


	13. Chapter 13

Damian and Alicia found the appropriate clothing laid out on their beds. A suit and an evening gown, respectively. Alfred's attention to detail showed in the way that his tie matched the color of her dress which complimented her jewelry which matched his cuff links. They looked like a proper society couple. Appropriate, given that the restaurant they were dinning at was exclusive, to say the least.

They drove to the restaurant in the silver Mercedes Benz and agreed to be ready to go by six o'clock. Then Alfred drove away and Damian escorted Alicia inside. The restaurant staff made every effort to be as helpful as possible, giving them a private table and seeing to it that they got their drinks as quickly as possible.

Alicia smiled bemusedly at the wine in her glass. "We aren't technically supposed to be drinking."

Damian raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of his. "Are you complaining?"

"Not in the least. This is very good Sauvignon Blanc. I'm impressed. I only hope the food is this good."

"It is. I've been here before for a charity banquet. Their Fettuccini Alfredo with grilled asparagus is delicious," Damian assured her.

"I may have to get it, then. Asparagus is one of my favorite foods."

"Truly? I prefer a good tomato soup, myself."

"I took you for more of a grilled chicken person."

"Call it a product of my mother's culture, but mutton is my favorite meat. I do not dislike grilled chicken, however."

The waiter came and took their order. Both Damian and Alicia requested the Fettuccini Alfredo. Their wine glasses were refilled, then they were left alone once again. They chatted for a bit longer, but after their food was delivered, what talk there was turned to their current problems with Damian's mother.

"I fear that this is an issue which may require your skills," Damian confessed.

Alicia shrugged. "I can do it, if need be. But it would be difficult and dangerous and it might take more time than we have, if Talia really is planning something."

"That will be our last resort."

"What else can be done, though? We've already ruled out questioning the people who might know something. We certainly can't question Talia herself. I highly doubt we could even catch her. Regardless, that would be a riskier plan than a mission."

Damian hummed, thinking hard. "We could try planting bugs."

She steepled her fingers, thinking out loud. "Planting them where? Besides, that wouldn't work for the same reasons that bugging you or I would fail. Our only truly viable option, other than using me, is to just wait and see what happens. Except that a plan like that would almost assuredly result in the loss of at least one life."

"Our two best options are also the two most dangerous," Damian mused.  
They finished their food, paid for it, and left.

"I do not want you doing this," Damian told her reluctantly as they walked to the car. "It is unsafe."

"I'll be fine."

"I will hold you to that, Beloved."

They spoke to Bruce the next evening about the beginnings of a plan they were devising. To say that he was hesitant would be a massive understatement, but in the end he came to the same conclusion they had: That using Alicia for this was the only option that had so much as a prayer of working well enough to be worth the risk.

"How do we want to play this?" she asked them. "I need a way to disappear and a reason to go to the League of Shadows."

"You could go rogue," Damian suggested.

"I'd rather not cause Dick and Tim that kind of pain. Or Alfred, for that matter." She sighed "I wish that they could know, but it's too big of a risk. The League of Assassins has several powerful telepaths. The fewer people who know, the more manageable the risk factor."

"Perhaps we could make it seem as though you had been kidnapped," Bruce mused.

"Dick would never stop looking for me. Neither would Tim. Not unless we could provide convincing proof that my kidnappers have killed me. Possibly not even then." Alicia's expression turned thoughtful. "But maybe we could get away with faking my death without the kidnapping."

Damian frowned at her. "I thought you didn't want to cause Grayson, Drake, and Pennyworth undue pain."

"There's no way to do this without hurting them at least a little. Even if we were to let them in on what we're doing, they'd still be upset. But grief is a much cleaner kind of hurt than worry, or rage and betrayal. And it fogs the mind just enough to make it possible to pull a deception this huge off."

"How?" Bruce asked. "They're well-trained enough to work through things like grief and shock at least for long enough to check your vitals."

She hesitated. "I can set it up so that I don't have any. There's a serum called Gumabi that one of my contacts makes. It eliminates all vital signs. A foolproof way to fake your death. Take it two hours before hand and wait for it to kick in. So long as you get the antidote within half an hour after it's taken effect, it doesn't cause any permanent harm to the user."

"Do it," Bruce ordered.

"Okay. Give me a week to get everything together and then we'll have to move fast." Her mind immediately started running through her contacts and acquaintances, scanning for any who would be helpful.

"I'm holding a party here on Wednesday," Bruce told them.

Damian scowled, but Alicia nodded, smiling like a shark. "I can use that. I need to set up my public character anyway. Besides, no one outside of this family needs to know when I 'die'. I do plan on coming back eventually, and that's a bit difficult to do when you're legally deceased. Not impossible, but decidedly more trouble than it's worth."

Bruce nodded a dismissal.

Alicia pecked Damian on the cheek and snatched up the keys to one of the motorcycles. "I need to get in touch with that contact right now if they're going to be able to get me the serum and antidote on such short notice."

He nodded. "Be careful."

"I'll be back before anyone knows I'm gone."

She did, in fact, go get the Gumabi serum from her contact, but she didn't go straight back to the Manor afterwards. Instead, she stopped off at the Royal Luxury Hotel in the center of the city.

Walking inside, she hailed an attendant at the front desk. "Mr. al Ghul is expecting me," she told him. He nodded at her and she took an elevator up to the penthouse suite. Unlocking the door with a key card she'd lifted off a bellhop, she stepped inside.

Ra's looked up from his book when she entered. "Ah, Miss Swanton. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Your hotel's lack of decent security, for one. Then again, it's Gotham. This is probably as good as it gets."

His lips twitched upwards at the corners. "I disabled three booby traps before you arrived."

She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Yes, but that's your security, not the hotel's. It doesn't count. Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

"And why are you here?"

"I'm here because I hope to make a deal with you. I know you don't trust your daughter. I don't either, and I have reason to believe she's plotting something. Your grandson and I ran into a group of her lackeys here in Gotham. We're fairly sure they were trainees, but that does little to alleviate suspicion when they claimed to be scouts."

Ra's nodded slowly. "Continue."

"My deal boils down to this: You keep an eye on Talia when I can't and I'll work for you for the duration of this mission."

"And how long do you expect your mission to last?"

"Anywhere from two weeks to five years. It all depends on how fast Talia moves. Given her history of longer, well thought-out plans, I'd say it'll take at least a year."

"Hardly enough time for the sort of work you're best suited for."

"I'm a reasonably good assassin. I don't leave enough evidence to be identified by even the best of detectives. And I've actually evaded the investigations of both of the men you call Detective, so I can say that. I don't enjoy killing, but if I take a job it'll get done. I'm not as good in a fair fight, I don't have enough of the right kind of training for that, but I can hold my own against most anyone."

"All useful traits, but I have dozens of assassins doing my bidding already."

"Yes, but do you have anyone dedicated to protecting you from your daughter? You've seen the loyalty I give to those I choose to serve, regardless of my reasons for doing so."

"Loyalty right up until you stab them in the back."

She smiled. "I'll even let you choose my cover identity."

He burst out laughing, a hard glint in his eye. "You get better at this with every passing year, daughter mine. So you think your sister is planning something?"

She nodded. "I'm pretty much positive."

"Very well, then. You have yourself a deal. Come find me when you're ready."

"Thank you, Father."


	14. Chapter 14

Alicia returned to the Cave and gingerly set two vials down in front of Bruce. "The yellow is the serum and the blue is the antidote. Don't mix them up."

Damian walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. Probably a bit harder than was strictly necessary, but it got her attention. "I believe we ought to talk."

Alicia nodded at him. "I know just the place, if you don't mind going outside."

"Not at all. The weather is nice today."

They walked to an empty stretch of grass and stood there, each waiting for the other to make a move. Damian got impatient and spoke up first.  
"I know you are not who you say you are," he told her.

Alicia shrugged. "And I know that you're hiding something. I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me."

"Perhaps it would be to our benefit to confide in one another." The suggestion was tentative, but sincere.

"You might be right. I dislike hiding things from you, though I doubt you'll like what I've been hiding."

Damian hummed his agreement. "Ladies first."

Alicia snorted. "Such a gentleman. Alright, how's this for a secret? I've spent the past hundred and twenty years working for your grandfather when I didn't have anything better to do."

Damian looked like he wanted to burst out laughing. "I was born one hundred and twenty seven years ago."

Alicia snickered. "What do you know? We really are the same age. But how is that possible? I mean, Bruce is only about forty, isn't he?"

Damian nodded. "Three years ago, Father was presumed to be dead. In actuality, he was lost in time. And while he was lost, he met, impressed, and slept with my mother. She drugged him so that he wouldn't remember, then she slept with him again fifteen years ago when she discovered that he was the same person."

She eyed his immature body. "Either you've spent a lot of time in the Lazarus Pits, or Talia found a way to block your aging."

"I could say the same to you. Mother used a combination of Lazarus, drugs, and magic slow my aging down. Now that I have left her side, my development has sped up to a more normal rate, thought it's still a bit slower than that of an average human."

"Ra's let me get to the age I am now and then all but stopped my aging completely. I never bothered asking how."

"That is not all you've been hiding from me," Damian told her after a moment's silence.

"Not bad, Little Hawk. You really are very sharp."

"Diversionary tactics don't work if your target knows you're using them."

She smiled. "Well..."

They talked for almost two hours longer, until the sun was well up over the horizon and Alfred was calling them in for breakfast. They went inside together, Damian's arm around her waist and a genuinely happy smile on Alicia's face. It had felt good to have someone to trust with secrets they normally could never have shared.

Tim noted their relative lightheartedness at breakfast with no small amount of confusion. "What has gotten into you two today?" he asked.  
"We couldn't sleep and it was nice out, so we took a walk."

He shook his head at Alicia's offhanded explanation. "Whatever you say," he replied incredulously.

She sniffed, seemingly offended that he didn't believe her. He just gave her a look and went back to his breakfast. She sighed at Damian, who rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Your brother is no fun," she complained.

"I have reason to believe that's on purpose. He seems to be doing what I once did and foolishly attempting to emulate Father."

"Once did? You were doing that less than a year ago," Tim said, glaring. "And I am not emulating Bruce. I admire his skill, but as a person? He's not someone I want as a role model."

"And that's wise," Alicia said. "It's one thing to appreciate someone's skills and abilities, but it's entirely another to look up to them as a person. Bruce is great, I'm sure, but he's got all the emotional warmth of a sponge."

"That's one way of putting it," Tim agreed.

Dick cleared his throat, looking amused. "You do know that Bruce is siting right there, listening to your conversation?"

"We know," they chorused, and went back to talking.

After breakfast, Alicia retreated to her room. There she sat down at her desk, took out paper and pencil, and started writing. She didn't finish util nearly suppertime. When she did, she sealed the letters in envelopes and took them to Damian.

"Give these to everyone at Christmas? There's one for you too."

He nodded. "It will be done."

She kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

"You are welcome, Beloved."


	15. Chapter 15

Alicia spent Tuesday away from the Manor, meeting with contacts and setting up a temporary safehouse to use while she wrapped things up in Gotham. When she returned that night, Dick and Tim both wanted to know where she'd been.

"I was visiting the Natural History Museum," she told them. "I'd never been inside it before. It was interesting."

Her answer apparently satisfied them, because Dick hugged her and Tim started a discussion about archeology.

Wednesday was spent on preparations for the party. Tim would not be attending, he was going to help Batgirl and Black Bat look after the city, but Dick, Damian, and Bruce would. Alicia planned to make an appearance, but wasn't going to actually attend.

Bruce and Dick already had their suits for the event, but Damian had grown and needed a new one. Alicia tagged along when they went to get him one, clinging close and offering shy critiques and advice. When they returned to the Manor, she locked herself in her room to do her own preparing for the party.

She looked at her open closet and hummed thoughtfully. "What do I have that just screams traumatized little girl?" After much deliberation, she selected a loose-fitting long-sleeved cashmere sweater and slightly baggy jeans. "This should do the trick." She completed the look with white tennis shoes and brushed her hair so that it covered part of her face. Then she waited.

About halfway through the party, Dick was talking to a couple of his friends when Alicia came running up, looking nervous. "Hey, Ali. What's up?"

She hugged him tightly, her reply muffled by his suit. "I got scared, so I came looking for Dami, but I can't find him and there are so many people and-"

Dick petted her hair soothingly. "Shh. It's okay. I'll help you find Damian, alright? I'm sure he's around here somewhere." He looked at his friends. "Sorry, Kory, Donna, but I need to take care of this. We can finish our conversation later."

They assured him it was fine.

Dick led the way through the ballroom to the corner where Damian and Bruce stood talking to Commissioner Gordon. "Damian," he said.

Damian turned, caught sight of Alicia, and wrapped an arm around her waist. "You could have sent Alfred," he told her mildly.

"I didn't want to interrupt him if he was busy."

"He would not have minded. And you would not have had to deal with these sorry excuses for human beings."

Bruce sighed. "Damian... You're excused from the rest of the party. Take her upstairs. We'll talk about your manners later."

"Yes, Father. Come, Beloved."

Gordon raised an eyebrow upon hearing the endearment. Bruce chuckled. "They appear to have imprinted on each other. Damian is very protective of Alicia, and she adores him. It reminds me a bit of Richard and Barbara when they were younger."

Dick laughed. "What Bruce means to say is, they're in love. Well, as much in love as people like them can ever be."

"'People like them'?" Gordon asked.

"Broken," Dick answered simply.

Upstairs, Damian changed out of his suit and Alicia put her hair up in a ponytail and they sat down on her bed.

"I'd say that went pretty well," Alicia said with a smile.

"Agreed." He sighed. "I wish you did not have to go."

"So do I. But we can't risk it."

"I know. That does not mean I have to like it."

"I'll be okay. I'll come back to you and we can get married. Just like you want to."

"You are sure?" he asked, startled.

"Absolutely. I would be honored to spend my life with you."

"And I with you."

"...What does it feel like, when you change personas?" Damian asked curiously.

"Nothing much," she answered with a shrug. "I suppose it's like flipping a switch. One second I'm one thing and the next I'm something completely different. It's not like the masks are for you and your family. Both things are equally real to me. And when a persona outlives its usefulness, I get rid of it. It's gone, just like that." She snapped her fingers to illustrate.

"Will you stop loving me when you're someone else?"

"No. Some things stay regardless of the mental shifts. I think I'm glad for that. As an aside, the person I'm going to be for this is named Foxfire. She's Ra's al Ghul's adopted daughter."

"Does Grandfather know, then?"

"Like I said Monday morning, I've been working with and for Ra's on and off for a very long time. He's the one who came up with the persona, and he's the one who chose it for this mission. Though I probably would have picked Foxfire regardless. I like her. She's interesting."

"Do you think I will like her as well?"

"I'm not sure. I think so. You probably would have liked her more before you came to your father. At the very least, you probably won't hate her. You know, it just occurred to me that someone is going to have to tell Gordon before he starts going after Batman again for losing another operative."

"I will do it."

"Thank you."

"May I kiss you?"

Alicia smiled, bringing her hand up to cup the back of his head and draw him in. "Of course."

Her breath against his lips sent shivers down his spine. He kissed her, hard and deep and just a little bit wet, for an all-too-short moment before pulling away. "We can't risk getting caught."

She sighed. "Unfortunately, you're right."

"Someday, Beloved. Someday I will have you and remember it."

"I look forward to it." She curled up against him with a contented sigh, eyes drifting closed. Damian relaxed and wrapped an arm around her causing her to shift so that her head rested on his chest. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

That was how Bruce found them when he went looking after the party. He smiled faintly and closed the door. He would talk with Damian in the morning.


End file.
